Introducing the new Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge (BOOK)

BOOK is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology; no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It’s so easy to use even a child can operate it. Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere, even sitting in an armchair by the fire, yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc.

Here is how it works: BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of recyclable paper, each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. The pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder, which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence. Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs. Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of your finger takes you to the next sheet. BOOK may be taken up at any time and used merely by simply opening it.

BOOK never crashes or requires rebooting. The Browse feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish. Many come with an Index feature, which pinpoints the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval. An optional “BOOKMARK” accessory allows you to open BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session, even if the BOOK is closed. BOOKMARKS fit universal design standards; thus, a single BOOKMARK can be used in BOOKS by various manufacturers. Conversely, numerous BOOKMARKS can be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous views at once. The number is limited by the number of pages in the BOOK.

You can also make personal notes next to BOOK text entries with an optional programming tool, named: “Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus”-or-”PENCILS.”

Portable, durable and affordable, the BOOK is being hailed as the precursor of a huge entertainment wave. BOOK’S appeal seems so certain that thousands of content-creators have committed to the platform and investors are reportedly flocking to the new phenomenon. Look for a flood of new titles soon.

Vladimir Arnold (the mathematician) complained about the separation of mathematics from physics in most modern universities. I agree with him, otherwise we may as well abandon geometry too! (Take note - those who wish to know when they can hunt with the light of a full moon - astronomy is just an application of geometry)

So why separate art from any other knowledge? Monasteries had art, too – and it was meant to educate as well as inspire.

I suppose I’m saying that any autonomous branch of knowledge (including philosophy, art and history) is worth preserving and expanding.

As for the form of stored knowledge, it reminds me of the e-mail joke about the ‘new’ data storage device, Binder of Orderly Organised Knowledge -BOOK
Its features are:-
Low power consumption
Full backwards compatibility with other BOOKs
Stand-alone operation
Non-user-dependent
No end-of-life for version
Fast look-up and indexing
Open source!

Anyway, I was moved to post this not as a rant about me, but about the comments you post about art. Why, indeed, should art mean anything? Surely, any activity is measured by the contribution it makes to the business of survival? If art holds a mirror up to life, it is because the picture it reveals is helpful to people finding ways to be effective in this business. If art becomes meaningless, arguably it’s because the life it reflects has become meaningless. The first art I’ve heard about are anatomically accurate pictures of prey animals during a hunt - a ‘mirror’ with a high survival value to Neolithic artists. Where does this leave Dada?

I have much more I would like to say, but sadly my prematurely arthritic fingers stumble to keep up with the rush of thoughts woken up by your site. I commend Matt Ridley’s excellent books, ‘The Red Queen’, and ‘The Origins of Virtue’ for anyone interested in an intelligent view of evolution theory.

Thank you for touching me in the wilderness - see you all at the Apocalypse!

Love is the Law

“If I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution” - Emma Goldman

Guess horticulture will also lock one in..

It might not “mean” anything, but does art have to? The extreme of this is Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake,” which reportedly only really has meaning to Joyce. My college English prof claimed there were three others in the world who pretty much got it, but that was it.

Rube Goldberg’s work might be rather fun for those with even inherited memories of our current society.

How about the Dadaists?

The supposed meaning of really true art is only primary to art critics.

What would civilized art really mean to tribalists?

I have to agree - it’ll be just us and the cockroaches. Humans as a species are the only one I know of that can adapt to radically different environments in seconds - like going in a house or putting on a coat, for instance.

These feedback loops are pretty worrisome. Local weather is made up of so many influences, that it seems which factor turns into a runaway effect for a given part of the globe is as good as random. I’d hazard a guess that the one that brings down a critical mass of civilization won’t be one anybody’s predicted.

One that’s interested me lately is the phytoplankton loss in the Pacific. They’re so numerous that they contribute significantly to fighting greenhouse effects. The general warming of the oceans is disrupting the vertical currents which bring up nutrients essential to phytoplankton’s survival. I’ve seen at least three articles about it in the last week. What’s especially interesting is that the issue was all over the news, etc., last summer when I was on the West Coast for a couple weeks. It was the reason that Salmon catches were doing badly, as I recall. Suddenly it’s NEWS?

As for the survival manual, I’ve been collecting the Firefox books. For anyone not familiar, the series began with a hotshot Cornell Master or Education who went down to Northwestern Georgia to teach. After a few months agonizing over the failures of his students, he decided he was just boring them to death, and he came up with a project. The project was to gather stories, instructions, anecdotes, oral history, etc., from the “old timers” in the area. He sent his students out to talk to folks who were around 80 in 1966, and put together a monthly magazine. This was then edited into a book, then more books.

These people managed lives with just about zero cash, and often nothing but handmade tools, often made with their own hands. Their lifestyle was probably pretty sustainable, as they’d done it for a couple hundred years. On the other hand, they did use an awful lot of timber.

Anyway, I think the books would be quite useful in most post-crash scenarios.

Finally, one word about nuclear power: HEAT!

Say we could achieve our current levels of energy with nuclear power (or even fusion power), and find ways to completely replace oil’s uses, dodge all the radioactive waste and accident problems. How long would we be happy with current levels?

The limiting factor would be that nuclear creates so much heat. All you’re doing is much more efficiently turning potential energy contained in a substance into kinetic energy. How many more power plants would it take before the localized heat effects on the bodies of water used for cooling would become generalized and a whole new global warming problem?

Back to the nuclear power issue though, if Lovelock thinks civilization is doomed anyway, what is the point of building more nuclear facilities which will produce mountains of hazardous waste that will still be radioactive even after Gaia’s 100,000 year fever? Also, the energy required for their construction would be mean that each reactor would need to run for many years to even equal the amount of fossil fuels spent in building it.